Crazy 9th-inning catch extends Royals' offensive funk

NEW YORK -- Just as they did in their first two games against the Yankees, the Royals struggled to score runs and ended up losing Wednesday’s matchup, 4-3, at Yankee Stadium.

Besides getting swept in the three-game series, the Royals are tied for 27th in the Major Leagues in runs scored (58) and have scored four runs or fewer in 17 of 19 games, which is last in the Majors. Kansas City is 6-11 when scoring four runs or fewer.

Making matters worse is the Royals' inability to notch clutch hits. They went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position during the three games against New York, and the 14th and final at-bat came in the ninth inning.

The Royals had Maikel Garcia on second representing the tying run with MJ Melendez at the plate facing right-hander Fernando Cruz. With a 2-1 count, Melendez hit a liner to right field that looked like it was going to drop for a base hit, but Cody Bellinger dove for the ball and made a great catch to end the game.

“It comes down to the last swing of the game,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “That sucks for us because [Bellinger] made one heck of an effort. The guys battled. We knew it was going to be a tough game. All these games against the Yankees -- the guys competed like crazy.”

Melendez thought for sure that he was going to be a late-inning hero.

“[As I was running the bases], I thought I had tied the game,” Melendez said. “But they have a good outfield. [Bellinger] took it away. They took a couple of hits away from us. It was unfortunate. It happens.”

It was a game where it appeared that the Royals might get out of their hitting slump. They had chances to score more than three runs with less than two outs against right-hander Clarke Schmidt. Take the first inning: After Bobby Witt Jr. scored the first run of the game on a one-out single by Salvador Perez, Garcia flew out to Bellinger, while Melendez struck out to end the threat.

Four innings later with one out, Drew Waters scored all the way from first on a triple by Kyle Isbel to make it 3-2 in favor of New York. Although Isbel scored the tying run on a groundout by Jonathan India, the threat came to an end when Witt flew out to left fielder Jasson Domínguez.

“We have to figure out a way to string some more things to put up crooked numbers,” Quatraro said.

But it was Yankees slugger Aaron Judge who ended up winning the game with a solo homer off reliever John Schreiber in the seventh inning.

“It was just a missed location,” Schreiber said. “It was a bad pitch. He is one of the best hitters in the game. I made a mistake, and you can’t do it.”

Left-hander Kris Bubic, Kansas City’s best pitcher thus far, started the game and ended up with a no-decision. Bubic competed like crazy, but he didn’t have his best command. By the end of the night, however, he pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowed three runs and gave the Royals a chance to win the ballgame. Not bad considering it was 48 degrees at first pitch.

“It was a battle. It wasn’t very comfortable from the get-go, but I just found a way to pitch as deep as I could. I was fortunate to get to the sixth inning,” Bubic said.

Kansas City now travels to Detroit to play a four-game series against the Tigers, who are in first place in the American League Central. One doesn’t have to tell the Royals that it’s going to be a battle.

“We just keep battling. It's early in the season,” Bubic said. “We know Detroit is tough. They have a good lineup, a good pitching staff. So the games are probably going to be similar when it comes down to a pitch or two here or an at-bat late in the game. But our guys are ready. We have been in big situations before. We’ll bounce back.”